Export of a OPA or UAV requires approval by the U.S. Department of State and the system has to meet MTCR guidelines. The guidelines are established by international treaty and governed by representatives from the signatory countries. Generally speaking, MTCR Category I items have a strong presumption for denial of export. MTCR Category I items include, for example, all OPAs and UAVs that have a range over 300 km and a payload capacity over 500 kg. However, items below that range and/or payload are typically considered MTCR Category II items and are likely to gain export approval. For further information on MTCR guidelines, see MTCR's website, available at http://www.mtcr.info/english. Therefore, it is advantageous for OPAs and UAVs to be restricted to a range under 300 km and/or a payload less than 500 kg.                While there are no known prior attempts to make OPAs compliant with MTCR Category II, prior attempts to conform UAVs with MTCR requirements have been made. Unfortunately, they fail to address the various objectives of the present invention. These attempts include, for example, U.S. Patent Publication Number 2010/0318475 to Abrahamson, entitled “Method For Meeting U.S. Government Security Controls Under Export Control Regimes.” Abrahamson discloses a business method for enabling full conformance and probable approval within the U.S. International Export Controls, such as the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), and the international Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), even though the item may normally be precluded from export. The method includes filing an application for a license to exploit the technology; the application includes commitments by the participants to comply with and follow certain security-related procedures, including a service lease, security compliance training, pre-approval of technical disclosures, and operations and task compartmentalization among the parties.        
Similarly, BAE Systems Australia has a UAV software-based system for controlling the airspace which a UAV may enter. The software, referred to as “3D Flight Extents”, is part of BAE's Autonomous Navigation and Sensing Experimental Research (ANSER) project. However, 3D Flight Extents is simply software-based and used to control the UAV in three dimensions with the simple goal of airspace deconfliction. As with Abrahamson, 3D Flight Extents fails to address implementation of range and load limitations for increasing MTCR Category II compliance.
Available UAV-based solutions for the limitation of performance parameters needed to meet MTCR Category II are either (i) software-based or (ii) require modifications to the airframe. However, both of these solutions are unacceptable. A software-based system would not be acceptable under the MTCR guidelines, and airframe modifications would not be an option for an OPA capable of maintaining full operational performance in the manned mode as well as the unmanned mode.
Thus, to ensure an aircraft falls within MRCR Category II, there is a need for hardware-based system modifications that may be employed to reduce range and/or payload below a range of 300 km and a payload capacity under 500 kg. Thus, a non-software-based solution is necessary for restricting a system's range to predetermined range and/or the payload to a predetermined limit using, for example, a Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) installed in the flight control system.